BELGRADE, October 3 – Novosti. The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Russian Ambassador Andrey Nesterenko on Monday in connection with referendums in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, the agency said.
“Secretary of State (Deputy Head) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andrija Metelko-Zgombic summoned Russian Ambassador Andriy Nesterenko today to express strong condemnation of the illegal annexation of the occupied territories of Ukraine and referendums,” the Croatian Foreign Ministry tweeted.
In April, the Croatian authorities expelled 18 diplomats and 6 administrative and technical employees of the Russian Embassy from the country.
The West, not recognizing the referenda on joining Russia, is showing double standards, Russia’s permanent representative Vasily Nebenzya pointed out to the UN Security Council, recalling the recognition of Kosovo. There are other examples in history of the recognition by the West of the separation and annexation of territories without the consent of the states to which they belonged. Texas seceded from Mexico in 1836 and then became part of the United States; in 1990 and 1991, Slovenia and Croatia held referendums on independence from Yugoslavia without the consent of its authorities and were recognized; in 1991, referendums on independence from the USSR were held in Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan – against the will of the Soviet leadership and the entire Soviet people, who spoke in an all-Union referendum in favor of preserving the Union;
At the same time, the results of referendums within the Western countries themselves are ignored. In 2017, 90% of the inhabitants of the autonomy voted for the independence of Catalonia from Spain, after which Madrid began large-scale repressions against supporters of independence. At the end of 2017, the inhabitants of the Italian Veneto and Lombardy demanded more autonomy from Rome in referendums, but the process of granting new powers from the central authorities stalled.
